Ves contently stretches his arms and opened his eyes.

He lay on a soft, luxurious bed. A quilt as soft as a cloud and patterned with purple hexagons rested comfortably on top of his body.

He turned his head to his side. The pale bronze tiger-striped form of his cat yawned and gazed at him with a relaxed expression.

"Did you have a good rest?"

"Meow~"

"Oh yeah, it's sunday. It's your day off."

His cat turned his body and softly smacked his face with a solid tail.

"Hey!"

"Mhmmm…" A female voice hummed from the other side.

Ves turned his body around to gaze upon his wife.

Gloriana clutched her own cat against her face as she rubbed her cheek against Clixie's fur. She looked a bit plainer without makeup applied to her face, but her modified genes and targeted cosmetic surgery still caused her to look pretty in a different way.

She wore pink pajamas decorated with multi-layered six-leafed lotuses. Though Ves did not believe in perfection, at this moment, he felt as if his life couldn't be any better.

"Hmmm.. what are you thinking about, Ves?"

"Oh, I just feel like kissing you right now."

"Then what are you waiting for?" She smiled invitingly at him. "I happen to feel the same way."

"Miaow?"

She set Clixie aside and began to cuddle and kiss with him. Every morning, before work and other matters complicated their lives, they made sure to spend a moment where they had nothing but each other in their eyes.

No mech design project, management issues, clan administration problems or anything else interfered with their love for each other.

While they argued about something at least several times a week, that did not take away their pure and simply love for each other.

It was not easy to keep their love alive. Both of them were opinionated mech designers who resisted compromise on any issue they held dear. The problem was that their interests intersected quite often, which caused them to conflict quite easily.

However, their disagreements did not exceed their desire to maintain their relationship. Beyond emotions such as love, they both held some very pragmatic reasons why they wanted to stay together.

Their marriage was not just a union of love, but also the realization of an alliance, both on a personal level and an organizational level.

Ves used Gloriana while she used him. He was never under an illusion that their relationship was based on irrational and illogical emotions alone.

Perhaps normal people might scoff at that, but Ves felt more secure in his relationship due to these factors. In a society where trust was a scarce resource, he did not have much faith in contracts and verbal promises.

Contracts could be ripped while promises could be forgotten.

Only active interests mattered. As long as there were good reasons to cooperate with him, Ves knew he could rely on his partners to work together in good faith.

This described his relationships with many people and groups. The Larkinson Clan, the Ylvainains, the Penitent Sisters, the Cross Clan, the Wodin Dynasty and even wife had an interest in maintaining a good relationship with him. As long as he could offer them something, they would continue to play nice.

Their greed and yearning was not a sin in his eyes. It did not matter if they were using him. He was doing the same thing and never held any illusions about it. The only difference was that he wouldn't be so crass to betray his allies if doing so was in his best interests.

He might lie, cheat, break taboos and murder people, but he would never betray someone else's trust. That was a line he never wanted to cross.

As the married couple finished their little makeout session, they readied themselves for the day. Both emerged from their beds and went to their separate bathrooms.

Ves freshened himself up and dressed himself in his patriarch uniform. His trusty grooming bot effortlessly shaved the stubble on his face and applied some additional treatments until his skin became as smooth as a baby's bottom.

As Ves admired himself in the mirror, he trailed his finger across his cheek. "Maybe I should switch up my look. Should I grow out a beard?"

He was beginning to ask this question to himself more often. Now that he had become a married man, he felt as if he had entered into a new phase of life. His face had slowly matured as well, though his altered and optimized genes slowed down the process quite well.

"I'm not young anymore."

When Ves emerged out of the bathroom and went down to the dining room of the grand stateroom, the chefs had already prepared their usual breakfast.

As Ves and Gloriana dined on noodles, toast, steamed fish and freshly-grown fruits, they chatted about their projects and other matters.

Naturally, their cats filled their stomachs as well. While Clixie dug into a bowl filled with high-density meat and other fortified ingredients, Lucky eagerly dug into a mixture of Breyer alloy and exotic scraps taken from the production halls.

One of the advantages of living aboard a factory ship was that Lucky never lacked for food!

Ves even suspected that Lucky secretly snuck into the cargo holds to take a little bite here and there. As long as his gluttonous cat was clever enough, he could gnaw off only a couple of grams from a solid block of material or ingest just a handful of pellets from a container filled with metal balls.

It didn't matter. The Larkinson Clan was so wealthy that these modest losses didn't affect production. Lucky might be naughty, after he ate all of the CFA equipment that Ves retrieved from Aeon Corona VII, he behaved with a lot more restraint.

Ves idly stroked Lucky's ribbed and metallic back.

"Meow."

"How many months has it been since your butt got to work?"

"Meow!"

Lucky did not like that line of questioning! He moved his bowl further away until his body was out of reach.

"Hey, I don't know how much you've eaten, but you definitely haven't been putting on any extra weight. Where is all of that food going, exactly?"

Either Lucky was preparing to 'produce' the most powerful gem up to date, or he was converting all of that food into something else! The gem cat's touchy behavior whenever Ves brought this topic up was a telling sign that Lucky was hiding something.

Well, whatever. Ves was in a generous mood right now, so he was willing to indulge Lucky for a time.

"Don't get too lazy." He warned his cat. "If I don't see something in three months, I won't be so patient with you anymore."

"Meow meow!"

Once they finished breakfast, the couple went their separate ways. Gloriana left for the design lab in order to check up on the results of the latest round of prototype tests. Ves went to his main office in order to receive Gavin's daily briefing and do some routine paperwork.

"We have completed some additional preparations for our journey to the Life Research Association." Gavin reported to Ves. "While the LRA is an open state that welcomes tourists and business visitors, the Golden Skull Alliance is equivalent to a mech division in strength. No state will feel at ease with a fleet as strong as ours roaming within their borders. It's okay As long as our starships remain parked at the edge of the outer systems whenever we transition out of FTL travel, we won't pose a threat."

Ves nodded in understanding. "It's when our powerful fleet approaches a settled planet that the local authorities start to worry. It's the same for us, Benny. We don't like it either if some random ship or fleet strays close to our vessels."

"Well, we have been trying to obtain permission to bring our fleet closer to the destinations you wish to visit, but… we have been encountering some resistance."

"Why?" Ves frowned. "The locations I selected are all commercial planets that do a lot of business with foreigners. There shouldn't be a problem even if our strength is rather high."

"That's only part of the problem as far as we can surmise. There are two additional factors at play that have made the lifers lukewarm towards us. Are you aware of the contentious relationship between Vicious and Majestic Teal?"

"I am aware. Are you saying…"

"You guessed it right. While Majestic Tealers won't fight Vicious Mountainers at the drop of a hat, it is indisputable that they consider each other as rivals. We're not just travel buddies with the Cross Clan. We have also allied with them. That means that the lifers and the other natives of Majestic Teal already consider us to be in their rival star sector's camp."

"Don't they know that the Cross Clan are a bunch of beaten dogs? The Crossers don't have any foundation left in Vicious Mountain!"

"Tell that to the lifers." Gavin sardonically said. "If that's not enough, there's also a second reason why the state is not welcoming us in. They have a beef with you. The local mech designers don't like your products."

"We aren't selling any second-class mechs as far as I know. I haven't encroached on their market share. Why are they upset with me, Benny?" Ves looked confused.

"It's not about business. Their problem with you is.. philosophical in nature. Think about it. The Life Research Association is obsessed with biotechnology. Their researchers have made high attainments in the field of exobiology, genetics, biomachines and other life sciences. Even their mech industry is dominated by biomechs. Now how do you think they will react when they hear about you and your 'living mechs'?"

It did not take long for Ves to understand the problem.

"Oh. The lifers must have a different idea on what a living mech means, right?"

Gavin nodded. "That's correct, boss. The local mech community over there is heavily biased towards biomechs. Up to 80 percent of the mechs in use in that state are biological instead of mechanical. The groups and organizations that utilize ordinary mechs are usually foreign-owned companies or outfits. The locals are very proud of their grown mechs."

Biomechs were truly grown rather than assembled. The intricate biotech needed to produce a mech by cultivating them from flesh and bone was incredible. What amazed Ves even more was that the proponents of biomechs had managed to develop their tech to the point where biomechs were competitive against classic mechs!

As Ves briefly looked up the mech industry of the LRA, he observed an extra detail. The lifers adopted both humanoid and bestial biomechs in equal measure.

This was not that difficult to figure out to Ves. The bestial mechs seemed to be based on giant exobeasts. It had become something of a competition for bestial biomech designers to find the strongest exobeasts before using their biological tissue to cultivate or graft a new biomachine.

To be honest, most people would probably consider biomechs to be actual living mechs. When they were placed side by side with LMC mechs, it was very hard for people to consider living!

Ves wasn't really interested in competing with the lifers over this issue. What he did care about was gaining entry into the state.

"Have you solved the problem?"

"We have, though we aren't sure whether it will work out." Gavin replied. "In order to gain entry and avoid as much friction with our hosts as possible, we have tried to seek out a local partner to vouch for us and guide us around. When we reached out to some associates, we came in touch with a local biomech designer who is willing to open some doors for us. If we accept his cooperation, we will definitely enjoy a smoother journey throughout the state."

That sounded intriguing to Ves, but he didn't think it was that simple.

"It would be nice if we can rely on a local guide, but what does this fellow want from us? There's no way a local will work with someone as controversial as us without an agenda."

Gavin hesitated for a moment. "You're right, boss. The biomech designer.. wants to challenge you to a design duel. He wants to know which kind of living mech is stronger."

"Oh."